Abstract

'Circumcision reduces HIV infections 76% in South Africa, researchers find', screamed the headline in the online Bloomberg news, taking its cue from the reported findings of a randomised, controlled intervention trial (RCT) conducted at Orange Farm, Gauteng. The findings were presented by French researcher Bertran Auvert et al. in July 2011 at an AIDS conference in Rome, showing that circumcision significantly reduced the risk of female-to-male transmission of HIV. 'We are changing the social norm,' Auvert gushed at a news conference. 'It's the first time in the world that we have a successful intervention in a community to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV between adults.'